I find it painful to listen to my older pieces. The passage of time makes what I thought was daring seem prosaic now. What I felt was the height of severity now seems only conservative, what was my most violent expression now comes across only as an emphatic gesture.
Still, composing this sonata was a milestone achievement for me. With my father dying in the hospital with aortic aneurysm, I decided to begin to work towards what I hoped to achieve in my life. I wanted to create beauty and so I began to learn at a feverish pace.
I studied Beethoven's piano sonatas. I studied photography and painting. I composed and photographed. I began to learn what I valued most in life.
A year later, I had my first sonata and a few good photographs.
Composed from January 1998 to January 1999.